Oh, How I Used to Love Fridays!

 When I was a working woman I loved Fridays! A Friday marked the close to my work week. I could feel the coming release, the recession of stress and the anticipation of the coming free time. That free time clearly marked by every tick of the clock as time progressed through the weekend. Now that I'm retired...a Friday is like any other day, except the afternoon traffic may be a bit more frenzied, and I can sense the exhaustion of younger folks when we are all at the grocery store, or WalMart, or wherever. 

Today the Mister and I had an appointment in Ocala at 2 PM. We decided to drive through Dunellon, FL and grab a bite for lunch, and pick up some straps for the bag I am making at a local sewing store.

I love eating at Sweeties Café, but it was time to try other restaurants in the area. Lugo's Grill offers Cuban sandwiches. Who doesn't love them? Our mouths were watering as we pulled up to find the parking lot cordoned off and a sign on the door, "CLOSED - Opens August 11". We were crushed. Onward we drove to 2 Rivers Bar & Grill. It had good ratings, and quite a few cars in the parking lot...always a good sign in my mind! We entered the restaurant to find 5 people seated, one being 5 months of age! I guess patrons of the bar on the other end of the building were responsible for the cars in the parking lot! Janine suggested that we take any available table/booth and promptly brought the menu. I selected a booth....only to feel like a 10-year old kid with the seat being that much lower than the sticky, plywood table. Only sticky because of years of washing.

Janine, who knew the folks at the other tables, and two others who came in by name...regulars, was very personable, and brought our menus. Seriously? The prices were certainly pre-inflation...an Italian sausage smothered in sautéed onions and peppers; $14. A hamburger, with cheese, sautéed mushrooms and onions; $14 - each with a side. 

If you want a good meal, friendly service and great prices, stop by 2 Rivers!

From there we stopped at the sewing store to pick up some nylon strapping for the bag that will hold the quilt and other items for Tim as he gets his bi-weekly dialysis. 

And, by the time we returned from our meeting, it was time to begin the evening routine. I didn't have to stress over what to have for dinner: leftover meatloaf, corn on the cob and Mac salad. Yum! 

We had more rain today, almost another inch, and there is another green blob heading our way! Hooray! I shall not complain...until I do!

Book Club - The Frozen River

 Today was our book club. I was the moderator. The book that had been selected was The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon. 

I am in awe of how the author constructed a complex historical fiction novel with many webs around life in Maine in the 18th century, midwifery, women's roles, a murder! The novel uses the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife who chronicled her daily doings from 1784-1812 as the basis for much of her story. 

What intrigued me the most was that Martha's diary survived. It was transcribed by Robert & Cynthia McCausland, beginning in 1982. The process took over 10 years, and is comprised of 1400 pages.

Images of each page of the diary, and the transcription may be explored at https://dohistory.org.  

Ariel Lawhon includes relevant excerpts from the diary, but has conventionalized spelling and capitalization to make the entries easier to read.

I found a fascinating interview with Ariel Lawhon:

Another book about Martha Ballard was written by Laurel Thatcher. She wrote A Midwife’s Tale, The Life of Martha Ballard Based on her Diary 1785-1812. This is not a work of fiction, but Laurel shares pertinent parts of the diary and then discusses different aspects of life in Maine including health issues, social networks, economic roles and women's work. I found it rather challenging to read, but it considered to be a masterpiece. 

PBS aired a
film in their American Experience series about A Midwife's Tale. I found it to be excellent, and a good tie in to 

with The Frozen River.  

This is all probably more information than you want to know...but since I found these resources for the book club, I figured I might as well share them again! 

After the book club I worked on making a bag for our Dialysis patient friend. The quilt I made will fit in it, and he can carry a book, his phone, a pen, etc. I will pick up the straps tomorrow. There is a shop nearby that specializes in bag making. They have great nylon straps that are more durable than anything I can make out of fabric. 

We had rain! Four days in a row! This morning it poured-almost 2"! Even in our sandy area we had some standing water on the roads- for a short period of time. We had more rain late this afternoon. Maybe we are finally in the rainy season...aka the monsoon season! 

Is hamburger $8-$9.99 a pound in your area? No wonder hamburgers at some restaurants are $22!!! For dinner we had a meatloaf made with 50/50 beef and pork. It's the way my mom used to make meatloaf...and it was great.